Oxinium™ Hip Advantage:

Reduce Wear Not Strength With Oxinium Femoral heads

The advanced bearing coupling ’s primary characteristics are that they produce nearly undetectable wear. All advanced bearing couplings have remarkable wear benefits compared with cobalt chrome and conventional poly conditions. Oxinium™ femoral heads with Reflection XLPE liners produce nearly undetectable wear in ideal and not-so-ideal conditions, as illustrated below.

Neither pure metal nor ceramic, the Oxinium™ material is a bold innovation in the advanced bearing coupling category. Oxinium™ material is not a traditional metal and should not be considered a standard bearing coupling. The Oxinium™ coupling is an advanced bearing coupling and offers some of the most exceptional wear characteristics.

Oxinium/XLPE Graph / Wear and debris image

Not all wear debris are equal. Studies show that metal-on-metal bearing couplings may elevate potentially hazardous chromium ion levels as much as 35 times and cobalt levels may increase as much as 3 times the normal levels. So while wear under ideal conditions is nearly undetectable with a metal-on-metal coupling, the particles produced present yet another risk that is eliminated with Oxinium™ femoral heads.

Tests show Oxinium™heads with XLPE liners exhibit 98%less wear than standard bearing couplings. Over the life of an implant, foreign material will be introduced into the bearing coupling that can roughen the bearing surfaces, thus increasing wear. Cobalt chrome and Oxinium™ heads were roughened in-vitro to simulate wear over time and scratching. When roughened, Oxinium™ heads on Reflection XLPE produced 96%less wear than standard cobalt chrome on polyethylene. Oxinium™ femoral heads are much less susceptible to scratching and roughening due to their superior hardness characteristics and reduced surface friction.

All of today’s advanced bearing couplings are capable of reducing wear debris more than 96%,compared with a standard cobalt chrome-on-polyethylene bearing coupling. Unfortunately, typical ceramic-on-ceramic couplings are more prone to catastrophic failure than any other advanced or standard bearing coupling. Laboratory testing proves ceramic femoral heads can withstand only a fraction of the force an Oxinium™ femoral head can withstand. As pressure increases, the ceramic head first experiences a fracture and then a subsequent catastrophic failure that produces thousands of fragments and necessitates an immediate revision. Although ceramic fractures infrequently, Oxinium™ heads eliminate any associated risks.

The strength of the Oxinium™ material exceeds the limits of standard laboratory equipment used to test femoral heads.

At 20,000 pounds of force, Oxinium™ femoral heads demonstrated virtually no signs of damage, yet ceramic femoral heads experienced catastrophic failure at an average of only 8,059 pounds of force. Testing proves Oxinium™ femoral heads are tough as nails, yet smooth as glass. Why take the risk associated with ceramic components?